Blue Jays fans celebrate their team's win over the Texas Rangers at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Monday, October 12, 2015. Hundreds of fans gathered at city hall to watch the game on the big screen.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
On a balmy autumn night, several hundred people watched their beloved Toronto Blue Jays on a large screen in Nathan Phillips Square – cheering every strike and each out in the final inning – and coming away with newfound hope.
For Blue Jay fans, it is a remarkable turnaround. The team lost the first two home games against the Texas Rangers, and a post-season exit seemed imminent.
"I'm super-excited that there is going to be another game in Toronto," said Ryann Johnston, 18. "We were worried there for a bit," said her friend, Chloe Heath, 18.
Nearby, Noah Goldman, 27, was jumping up and down and high-fiving strangers after the final out in Toronto's 8-4 victory.
"What can you say? It's epic – it's the biggest win in 22 years," said the pilot and flight instructor, who grew up in Toronto and remembers his elementary school principal gathering students and teachers in the schoolyard in 1993 to sing the Blue Jays song during that year's post-season run and eventual World Series victory.
Wearing a grey and faded Blue Jays t-shirt, Mr. Goldman stood alongside his fiancée, Sasha Stairs. Both had been living in New Brunswick until moving to Toronto in August, when Blue Jays fever was high.
"It's not just everybody in Toronto, it's the 34 million in Canada that are behind this team. They're Canada's team," he said.
Sitting on blankets, folding lawn chairs and picnic benches, the crowd cheered wildly with each base hit and home run in the early innings as the high-scoring team they remembered from the regular season took an early 7-0 lead.
Colin Foley, perched on his muted gold Airwalk Mini Fixie bike and wearing a Blue Jays cap, was down from Montreal for Thanksgiving and watched with some confusion as the Blue Jays replaced starting pitcher R.A. Dickey in the fifth inning with ace David Price – even though the team had a comfortable lead.
Mr. Foley, who was a university student in the early 1990s and was among the throngs on Yonge Street celebrating the 1992 World Series win, said the team seemed more relaxed than in the two home games against the Texas Rangers last week, and likes their chances of appearing in the World Series.
"I think it'd be incredible for the city," he said. "The fans here are great and they deserve more," he added.
For the Lauz family, their journey and settlement in Canada is intertwined with the Blue Jays.
Edward and Glenda Lauz immigrated to Canada from the Philippines five years ago with their four children and settled in Toronto – and for the past three years, the family has been a solid Blue Jays household, watching games on television and sometimes at the Rogers Centre.
The family of six watched with delight as the Blue Jays powered to an early lead – giving the family faith that its team may yet prevail in the post-season.
"I think they can make it because the spirit is there," Ms. Lauz said. Her husband is already thinking ahead. "I don't know if we can, but we'll try to get some [postseason] tickets," he said.
The parents debated how long to stay as a warm autumn afternoon turned in to early evening and thoughts turned to getting their kids ready for the post-Thanksgiving school day.
"We just want to make sure the Jays are winning before we go home," Mr. Lauz said with a chuckle. That moment came in the fourth inning, when the Blue Jays took a 7-1 lead.